Wickes names Slavin CEO
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, February 10, 2003
Wheeling, Ill. — The owners of Wickes Furniture have named Howard Slavin president and chief executive officer of the 34-store retailer. He had been in the post on an acting basis since late last year.
Wickes is owned by Sun Capital Partners and Seffner, Fla.-based Rooms To Go, the nation's No. 1 furniture retailer. Slavin replaced longtime Wickes leader John Klein, who said a Sun Capital representative dismissed him in December.
Wickes also has hired Peter Weitzner as senior vice president. He was a corporate attorney with a law firm in New York.
"We plan to take Rooms To Go's (strengths) and replicate what they have done in our markets by taking advantage of their buying power, merchandising expertise and advertising expertise," Slavin said.
But because Wickes stores are larger than Rooms To Go's, the company will continue to work with other important vendors, including La-Z-Boy, and experiment with other merchandise, he said.
Slavin, who has been in the industry for about 30 years, joined Wickes last year as executive vice president. He has held executive posts with retailers and manufacturers, including Soft Line, Viewpoint and Levin Furniture.
Rooms To Go and Sun Capital acquired Wickes last summer for more than $75.6 million and subsequently closed Wickes' five metro Dallas stores, converting one to Rooms To Go. It was the only city where the two chains competed head to head.
Jeff Seaman, Rooms To Go president, said expansion is planned for Wickes this year, but declined to disclose details.
Rooms To Go has about 96 stores in the Southeast and Texas and had sales of about $1.3 billion last year. Wickes, now with stores in Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Portland, Ore., had sales of about $365 million last year.
